JEE Main Exam

What is JEE Main Exam?

The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and Central Board of Secondary education (CBSE), New Delhi introduced the national level common entrance exam called Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) conducted for admission to various engineering colleges in India.

JEE Main examination was being conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) till 2018. From 2019 onwards, the National Testing Agency (NTA) is vested with the authority to conduct the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main examination. The major development in JEE Main is the exam will be held twice a year for admission to Undergraduate Engineering Programmes in IITs, NIT's, IIIT's and other Centrally Funded Technical Institutions.

The Joint Entrance Exam will be conducted in two stages - JEE Main and JEE Advanced. JEE (Main) replaced the AIEEE entrance exam and JEE (Advanced) replaced the IIT-JEE entrance exam. Every year, over 25,000 Engineering and Architecture seats will be filled through the JEE Main score.

The aim of the common entrance test has been mooted to reduce stress on students, who have to appear for multiple entrance examinations and to give greater relevance to the school education, especially the class 12 board examinations.

National Testing Agency (NTA)

NTA has been established as a premier, specialist, autonomous and self-sustained testing organisation to conduct entrance examinations for admission/fellowship in higher educational institutions. It is a newly formed body by the centre to conduct prestigious entrance examinations such as JEE Main and NEET UG. The Agency has also vested with all the authority to conduct the entrance examinations in the online mode from 2019 onwards. Here are some of the changes in JEE Main examination after the introduction of NTA. 

• From the year 2019 onwards, candidates should have to appear for JEE Main in online mode only, but for one subject a candidate will have Pen and Paper Based mode to be attempted on Drawing Sheet
• Aspirants will have double the chance, more opportunity, NTA is going to be conducted JEE Main twice a year
• The candidates can pick desirable slots to appear in the exam owing to the flexibility and availability of sittings from January 08 to January 20 and April 07 to April 20
• Students will have more time to prepare for their entrance exam because the exam will take place in the month of January and April
• The exam centres have been to 258 which include 248 exam centres in India and 9 centres in abroad countries
• In case of students who have appeared in both exams, the best of the two scores will be taken into account for the result
• Around 3000 practise test centres for JEE aspirants to train them for computer-based examination, which will be functioning from the August 2018. Click here to register for practise centre.
• There will be a normalisation process for the calculation of scores to have fair results

JEE Main Exam Highlights 

JEE Main 2021 Session 1 Dates 

The JEE Main (I) January exam held from December 16, 2020, to January 15, 2021. The admit card will be released in the first week of February. 

JEE Main 2021 Exam Dates 

Union Education Minister has announced the exam dates of JEE Main 2021. This year, the exam will be conducted in four sessions in the months of February, March, April and May.  

JEE Main Notification 2021

NTA is responsible for releasing JEE Main notification for both exam sessions. Candidates should check JEE Main information bulletin meticulously that will contain all the information about the exam starting from eligibility to important dates. One can access the JEE Main notification 2021 pdf only on the official website of NTA. Aspirants can access JEE Main 2021 notification pdf here.

JEE Main Eligibility 

Candidates who meet the eligibility criteria set by the NTA are only eligible to apply online for JEE Main. There are many eligibility criteria set by NTA. 

1. Age Limit: There is no age limit for the candidates to appear for the JEE Main examination. However, candidates should satisfy themselves regarding the age limit while taking admission at a particular institute. 

2. Year of Appearance in Qualifying Examination (QE): Candidates who have passed class 12 or its equivalent qualifying examination in 2017 or 2018 are only eligible. Candidates appearing for the final examinations in of class 12 are also eligible. 

3. Number of subjects in the Qualifying Examination: Candidates must have taken at least five subjects in class 12 qualifying examination in order to apply online for JEE Main 2019. The candidate must have studied Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics in qualifying examination for B.Arch.

4. Percentage of Marks: Candidates have to secure the minimum of 75% marks in aggregate for admission to pioneer institutes in the country such as IITs, IIITs, NITs and CFTIs. However, it is 65% for reserved categories. 

5. B.Arch Eligibility: The paper-II is B.Arch. Candidates who are aiming for admission to this course must have passed 10+2 or its equivalent with 50% marks in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. The diploma holders are not eligible to apply. 

JEE Main Reservation 

The NTA will follow strictly the Govt. of India reservation rules belonging to certain categories are admitted to seats reserved for them based on relaxed criteria. In order to get admission to a particular institute, candidates are advised to check the percentage of reservation.

JEE Main Application Form 

Candidates have to apply online on the official website of NTA for the JEE Main examination. Candidates are advised to check the steps for JEE Main registration. 

Step 1: Visit the official website of NTA – www.nta.ac.in 

Step 2: Go to the engineering tab – JEE Main 

Step 3: A new page will be displayed – www.jeemain.nic.in 

Step 4: On the homepage, click on the link Apply JEE (Main)

Step 5: Candidates will find two tabs – Fresh Candidate Registration and Registered Candidates  

Step 6: Candidates are advised to register through Aadhaar number 

Step 7: Fill the online application form 

Step 8: Verify the mobile number and email ID

Step 9: Pay the prescribed application fee. 

Step 10: Complete the slot booking. 

Step 11: Submit the details and print the acknowledgement page. 

Click here to apply online for JEE Main  

JEE Main Application Fee

The application fee may be paid either by Credit/Debit Card/Net Banking or e-challan generated during the online filling of the application form using online payment gateway facility in State Bank of India. If a candidate submits the fee by any other mode like Money Order (MO), Demand Draft (DD), Initial Public Offering (IPO) etc. will be rejected.

Application Fees Details

Note: Candidates are advised to go through the whole information carefully and ensure their eligibility to appear in both exams.

JEE Main Application Form Correction 

The NTA has provided an option to rectify the mistakes made in the JEE Main application form. Candidates can avail the correction facility only to the limited fields. Applicants have to use their login credentials to make the changes in JEE Main application. Candidates who receive the message regarding the error in the image are only eligible to upload the image again. 

JEE Main Exam Pattern 

The JEE Main is an online written examination. Each correct answer will be awarded 4 marks and 1 mark will be deducted for the wrong attempt. The examination will be held in two shifts per day (9:30 am to 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm). Candidates are advised to visit our JEE Main exam pattern page for more information.

JEE Main (Paper-I) Exam Pattern 

JEE Main (Paper-II) Exam Pattern 

JEE Main Test Practice Centres

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has established a network of Test Practice Centres across the country to assist the aspirants in examinations. Candidates can practice and train themselves before the examination for the “Computer Based Test (CBT)” mode of examinations. At the test practice centres, candidates will be assisted by the experienced, qualified and professional Nodal officers. They will also help in solving the problems and making the CBT format more familiar. Candidates are advised to visit the official website for more information. 

JEE Main Admit Card 2021

Candidates whose applications are successful can download the admit card from the official website. Aspirants will not be permitted to sit in the examination centre without a valid JEE Main admit card along with the identity card. Candidates need to enter their application number, password and the security pin to access the JEE Main admit card. 

Click here to download JEE Main admit card

JEE Main Result

NTA is responsible for releasing the JEE Main (I) & (II) result. The JEE Main results will be declared on the official website of NTA -  jeemain.nic.in. Candidates can view their JEE Main scores by using their application number and date of birth or password. One should also note that the JEE Main result is available in online mode only. 

As the JEE Main was conducted in various shifts, only the raw marks have been converted into a scale ranging from 100 to 0 for each session of examinees. NTA score indicates the percentage of candidates that have scored equal to or below that particular percentile in that session. 

The JEE Main percentile score is calculated based on 100 X number of candidates appeared in the ‘session' with a raw score equal to or less than the candidate divided by the total number of the candidates appeared in the ‘session.’

Aspirants should note that the NTA score of the total is not an aggregate or average of the NTA score of the individual subject. The NTA score is not the same as the percentage of marks obtained.